”The poor and the deceitful man meet together: The LORD lighteneth both their eyes.“
Proverbs 29:13
This proverb paints a beautiful picture.
In the backdrop is a tale of two men. One, a broken man who is impoverished and hungry. The second man is a well dressed, probably over-fed and is hunting for money and power. He will take what he wants by any means necessary.
The first man is named Poor. He is described as being impoverished, in need and lacks for his basic needs.
The second man is called Deceitful. He is described as one who destroys, oppresses, crushes and dissevers.
In the picture being painted these two men meet. Most likely the Deceitful is behaving dastardly and the poor is begging. Neither position is enviable. Neither action is enviable.
The Painter then shows us a beautiful truth. The LORD shines his light onto both of them and their vision can change to see who they are, where they are and what they can and should be.
This picture tells us some things:
- Being poor is not a sin but it is certainly unhandy.
- Being an deceitful man is a terrible position.
- Both can and should improve their standing by altering their actions.
- These, opposite-end-of-the-spectrum, positions were chosen to show that we can all improve when we see the light of the truth and decide to act appropriately and with conviction.
To clarify this Proverb, allow me to share a short story.
I once saw two men go through a series of interactions which explained this proverb.
One, the Poor man. Was young and impetuous. He was hungry, not physically hungry but he wanted to move forward in life.
The Deceiver in this story was an authority figure in a religious institution which the Poor man attended. The Deceiver was hiding a terrible secret and the Poor man was asking questions which would expose the Deceiver.
In a mischievously clever move, the Deceiver tricked the Poor man causing him to lose his faith and leave the religious institution believing God was a hoax.
Several years later the LORD lightened both of their eyes.
The Poor man realized his error and ceased his self-sabotaging activities. He brought his mind and body back into subjection and began building a life worth living. He is no longer a Poor man.
The Deceiver took a bad turn and wound up on the wrong side of the Law. As ironic as it might sound, he is now poor. Hopefully his ways have changed for good and he can re-make himself.
What we take away from this story is that it is much easier for the Poor man to re-establish himself than it is for the Deceitful; no one is going to trust him for a long time.
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